cold
- Created by: cesca.sharp
- Created on: 03-09-19 22:53
View mindmap
- The Orthodox school
- Orthodox views of the Cold War emerged among historians in the United States and other Western nations in the early 1950s.
- Known as the ‘Traditional view’.
- Many Orthodox historians attribute the outbreak of the Cold War to Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union.
- They argue that the Soviet regime initiated the Cold War by seeking to expand and exert control over Europe and Asia.
- They support this to Russia’s inherent expansionism, the doctrine of Marxist-Leninism which preached international revolution and world communism, as well as Stalin’s anti-Western paranoia.
- Orthodox historians argue that Stalin broke the agreements forged at Yalta and Potsdam
- The Soviet leader’s duplicitous actions led to the collapse of the Grand Alliance and the beginnings of the Cold War.
- Orthodox believe, the United States had only a passive or reactive role in these events
- American leaders entered the negotiations in 1945 with benign objectives: they sought no territory and were guided by principles rather than self-interest.
- Roosevelt and Truman both sought conciliation with Stalin and a post-war working relationship with the Soviet Union.
- When Stalin violated the agreements of 1945, however, they acted in defence of self-determination and democracy.
- Many Orthodox histories also offer scathing criticisms of economic policy and political repression within the Soviet system, while ignoring the shortcomings of American capitalism.
- American leaders entered the negotiations in 1945 with benign objectives: they sought no territory and were guided by principles rather than self-interest.
- The Orthodox view became the accepted historical position of the United States during the 1950s
- Not surprisingly, since it aligned with American interests and justified US policies like the Truman Doctrineand the Domino Theory.
- It remained the prevailing explanation of the Cold War until the emergence of Revisionist historians in the 1960s.
- Notable advocates of the Orthodox school included Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, Herbert Feis, Thomas A. Bailey and Louis J
- many of these historians held official positions with the US State Department or other government bodies.
- Orthodox views of the Cold War emerged among historians in the United States and other Western nations in the early 1950s.
Comments
No comments have yet been made